About Poverty

The UK is one of the world's richest nations. We at the UK Coalition Against Poverty believe it is therefore inexcusable that one in five people in the UK live in poverty.

Many people living in poverty experience social exclusion throughout their lives, going without basic necessities like a warm coat and decent shoes, sufficient food for a balanced diet and adequate heating and lighting for their home.

A child born into poverty is more likely to weigh less at birth, and is twice as likely to die before his or her first birthday, or to leave school without qualifications, than one from a more affluent family.

Contrary to popular belief, poverty is not just experienced by the homeless or the unemployed, as the 1 in 5 figure suggests, it really is all around us. In fact around half of Britain's families living in poverty today live in a household where an adult is in work. Lone parent families are at particular risk of poverty, demonstrated by the fact that 42 per cent of children living in poverty are living with a lone parent. It is not just families that are affected by poverty, the number of single people living in poverty has increased by 300,000 to 3.9 million since 1996.

People living in poverty often have no access to a bank account and are forced to budget on a week-to-week basis, making basic purchases and juggling bills and debts with cash. The lack of opportunities for people living in poverty exacerbates the problem further. People living in poverty are less likely to have access to transport, employment opportunities or healthy food with physical and mental health and personal relationships often suffering as a result.